Cinecrowd introduces crowd funding in Dutch cinema

A group of young filmmakers and entrepreneurs in The Netherlands have launched an online platform to search for funding for short films, animations, documentaries and experimental films. The website Cinecrowd.nl allows filmmakers to present their film projects and ask the general public for financial support.

Cinecrowd works as follows: A filmmaker designs a movie concept and presents it online. Each project has a minimum budget requirement and a time limit for collecting the funding. Visitors of the website can view the various project proposals online and offer their support to the film that appeals to them. Depending on the level of contribution granted, the filmmaker will give something back to the 'sponsor'. Think of a visit behind the scenes, festival tickets, or having your company name on the list of credits.<o:p></o:p>

When the filmmaker collects the targeted amount within the time limit, the project can proceed. CineCrowd transfers the money to the producers and the film is realized. Those who had contributed to a proposal that lacked support will receive the opportunity to choose another project.<o:p></o:p>

Cinecrowd is a form of so-called crowd funding, bringing together a large group of people to finance an idea. By uniting many small 'sponsors', crowd funding creates sufficient budget for a film project on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a low key opportunity to invest in the film business. Such platforms have been around longer, for example to facilitate the publishing of books, art projects and to launch new artists. Crowd funding allows for interesting and innovative business cases in the creative sector.<o:p></o:p>

Crowd funding appears to work in practice for projects that normally depend on government subsidies or major sponsors. For film producers, these two options require an extraordinary solid elevator pitch in the current economic climate. Therefore, they have to come up with alternative sources of funding. If CineCrowd succeeds to get the 'general public' involved in the preliminary stages of a film production, filmmakers will be less dependent on traditional sponsors and perhaps also of selling theatre tickets and DVDs.<o:p></o:p>

Source:  CineCrowd<o:p></o:p>